Nightmarish: The Exe Story
by DarkLura
Summary: Tails has another solo adventure, which he wouldn't be in if he could. Trapped in the dark Mobius.exe, surrounded by evil, chaos and death, he has to find the chaos emeralds and save his friends from all the evil Exe, the former hero of the planet created after he had rised from the dead himself. A Sonic adventure mixed with the cruel, brutal world of Sonic.Exe. Try to survive...
1. The upbeat

It's a normal, pretty silent day in New Metropolis.  
Eggman was inactive for a while and everybody enjoyed the peace.

Around the middle of the day, Tails was getting new material for his workshop. Some new parts for the Tornado or other inventions he had in his mind for a couple of days now and finally found the time for actually building them.

On his way home, he tripped over the pavement edge. "Oh no!" he gasped and quickly collected all of his stuff, as something catched his eye.  
It was a simple CD, totally blank except for a spot, where something was written. But it wasn't readable.

"What is that for a disk?" Tails asked himself, studying the disk with his eyes, but as an older citizen spoke to him, he should get out of the way, Tails just putted the CD to his stuff and ran home.

* * *

Over the afternoon, Tails builded lot of new things, like a robot who makes the homework for you, but also made yourself smarter as well.

At one point, Sonic came to visit and the two had fun playing some games, until Amy came and Sonic ran away. Lucky Tails understanded him.  
Only Amy was annoyed, but didn't gave up to catch the blue hedgehog.

All in once, it was a lovely day. After dinner, Tails mom even made delicious cookies.

But now, the day came to an end.

* * *

Loud noises came from Tails' workshop in the middle of the night.

Annoyed and tired, Tails got up and checked, but there was nothing. No window or door open.

"Maybe I placed something wrong and the gravity made it fall..." Tails thought, rubbing his eyes as he lighted the darkness with his flashlight.

As he returned to his bed, his eyes catched again the sight of the CD.

"Oh. I completely forgot that thing..." He mumbled, studying it again and finally take it to his bedroom.

Placing the disk to his portable computers, he went to bed, only finding himself rolling around in it. Again, the CD got his attention.

He took it and his PPC to look what was on the disk. Maybe it was a game or maybe a song which could help him get to sleep again. So switching the portable computer on and playing the disk.

All that it showed, was a chaos emerald, or well it could be an emerald. It was more like a raw diamond, but it glowed nearly like a chaos emerald, only weaker. It even had the aura of one, but why was it like this and everything else was only white background?

Suddenly, a shadow appeared for a second on the screen, before everything was blinding white.

Tails felt wierd at that moment, like he shortly began to fly in midair, without using his tails. He could even sworn, that he saw two, scary hands approaching him.

* * *

Finally, the blinding white disappeared and Tails was feeling ground under him.

But it was not his comforting bed he was sitting on. It was more like he was sitting on a broken street.

He started looking around himself to really find himself on a broken street, surrounded by ruins of a big city The sky was an ocean of blood-red clouds and smoke. He could even tell which city, it was Station Square. But what happened?

Only ruins, slight fire here and there, but mostly damaged buildings and cars and... people?

As Tails started to wander around, he found many places where bodies were squashed by car wrecks or broken building parts. There was blood everywhere and Tails was really in panic.

"Oh my gosh!" He thought as he passed more of this horrible sights, gasping in fear "What happened? Was this Eggmans fault? No it couldn't be. Eggman would never kill, only roboticies, or not?"

Walking backwards, still looking his view on one of the horrific sights, he tripped over the library. "Maybe there I find some answers..." he thought. The libraries mostly had the kind of information he needed, if it wasn't for super natural stuff like the Gaia manuscripts.

So he went in, only finding his way to the books collapsed, so he had to use another way in.

The only other way led by a garden with open top to read outside and some lockers standing nearby.  
The entrance for the library was close.

But someone grabbed Tails suddenly from behind, holding his hands behind his back but also covering his mouth, so the panic screams only came out as a low tone.

"SH!" the person hushed him. Tails was shocked to hear his own voice speaking to him and as he turned his head, he was even more shocked.

There was a second version of himself, only his fur was black as ashes, the eyeballs pitch black with red dots as pupils and blood running down his cheeks.

Tails tried to scream louder, but the tone didn't changed that much. He also tried to free himself, but the second Tails hold him very strong.

"Pleace stop this. I try to help you. Pleace you must hide before -". The second Tails stopped, as the sound of lighting was heard, but no thunder showed up.

"Oh no..." the black fox said in fear, looking around, finding the lockers and quickly pushing Tails into them, closing them fast.

"Pleace be silent!" the fox whispered, before a loud noise of something slamming into the ground close behind them appeared.

"Hello Tails..." Sonic's voice appeared. Tails standing up inside the locker and watched out of the small slots in the door, expecting his best friend to see, but what he saw, gave him a cold chill down his back.

Sonic was flying in midair, the eyes were like the eyes from the second Tails, the teeth in his mouth all spiky, bloody and discoloured to a putrid yellow, the gloves and socks all tattered and much of it and his fur was covered in blood, even parts of guts.

But it was mostly the dark aura around him, which made him so... frightening.

* * *

**To be continued!**

**Also pleace leave a comment :)**


	2. The exe

Tails hold his hand over his mouth as he continued looking at that Sonic, fearing to image where all this blood came from and more spezific how.  
"What is this? What in heavens is this?" he thought, repeating these words over and over, that he didn't even heared what the two creatures looking like him and his best friend were talking about.

He just studied Sonic, the way he was talking and acting. He didn't looked like himself, more as the devil himself raised from hell.

Just in time, Tails saw that Sonic was about to punsh the higher part of the locker he was hidding in. He dodged it and soon was more shocked to see the whole higher part totally damaged. It was going inside and Tails had to stand in the uncomfortable small position.

And with that hit, it was silent. Tails only heared sniffing, like a haunt dog, looking for the hunted animal.

"What is this smell?" Tails heard the dark voice of this Sonic "F - fresh meat? Could it be? Its SO RARE!".

The angry tone in his voice changed to a joyful one. "WHERE IS IT?" he yelled maniacly.

Tails opened the locker door to see what was going on outside, watching if the situation was getting dangerous, and saw how Sonic hold the black fox by his arms, squashing them as they broke and bleed.

"WHERE IS IT?" he again yelled, getting the answer "I- I don't know!" "LIAR!"

Sonic slammed the fox against the wall, with a loud sound of breaking bones, as he maniacly began to shake only to the thought of feeding fresh meat.

"This is it!" Tails thought, tears swalling up in his eyes "He will find me. There is no place to run, I am sitting in the perfect trap!".

Suddenly, the noise of breaking bones was heared again, together with the death cries of a small animal.

"I am sorry, my lord, but I guess it was this, you smelled." the serious voise of the old knuckle head Knuckles appeared.

Tails looked out to see a darker Knuckles also with the black bleeding eyes. He was holding a small flippy, which he threw to Sonic.

Sonic looked at his disapointed, as he squashed in his bare hand, only to have the bird stand up again and walking away, the wings still broken and only one funktional bleeding eye.

"Tsk, tsk..." Sonic then said "Oh ... Didn't tell ya to NOT touch any living thing?" "Y-Yes you did." "Yeah, because you know HOW MUCH I love do see their spirits lift." "Yes, I know" "So... You know... And you know whats coming now?" "Yes...".

Sonic smirked, as for Knuckles, who closed his eyes. He had to get ready for what would come.

To his surprise, Sonic flew past him, patting his shoulder like he was proud or something. But right after this moment, it came.  
Pain, incredible pain. Sonic knew that Knuckles wouldn't be surprised if he would the same thing again, so this was a new way to let him feel like the first time Sonic killed him.

It was right from behind. Sonic grabbed Knuckles' spinal column, ripping it clearly out with some ribs. Knuckles went down and thanks to the missing spinal column, his body turned in a strange way.

He screamed and begged the blue hedgehog to finally end the job, but Sonic laughed. "You know..." He started, bursting out in laughter every now and then "I thought of that idea a couple of times lately, but you know WHAT? I CHANGED MY MIND! You are still as entertaining as in the good old days!".  
He continued laughing before leaving, saying he had a date to dinner and then finally flew away.

The second Tails went to Knuckles. His spine grew back because of the dark curse the both were "blessed" with.

"Dear god!" "Don't say this. This god abandoned us!". The fox sighted, before he remembered something importent.  
He went to the locker and said " Here this is something you have to see!" "WHAT?".

The fox opened the locker door and Tails fell out. He tried to crawl away, but the two dark versions grabbed him and took him away, covering his mouth so he would be quiet.

* * *

After a while, Tails stopped his attemps to scream and soon he was only carried by the echidna. But yet Tails was nearly paralized by fear and cried much. So the black fox went to him to comfort the yellow one.

"Hey..." he began shy "Sorry for the rude way. But you... you are me? Miles Prower, also called Tails. But you seem to don't know in which trouble you're in.". Tails looked at the fox. For his scary appearance and the dark aura around him, he seemed nice.

"You... Aren't from here, do you?" "*sniff* My world isn't a ruin full of mobiens like you..." "Well I wished it was different as well. Its a living hell...".

With these words, they entered the old, big council house. There the group was greeted by a young, female voise.  
"Mr. Knuckles, Tails, what is that?" Cream asked. As Knuckles put Tails down, he saw a horrific Cream and Amy.

Once more, he had the feeling to scream, but nothing came over his lips.

"Wow. Its another Tails!" Cream shouted in surprise, followed by Amy "Yeah really... Thinking of a place were everything is like... back then.". The two girls surrounded the scared fox, who began to sobbing. But as the girls gave him comfort, he began to relax (a bit).

All of them talked to him calm and explained this world to him, when he asked why everything was like this.

"Well..." Knuckles began "Its a long story... I don't remember much, but I think it started a long time ago."

He remembered what happened...

* * *

More in the next chapter.


	3. What happened?

(The past)

It started at a peaceful day.

Eggman was beaten once again and everyone enjoyed a couple of days in full peace. Even Espio found no new evil plan in Eggman's base and it was heaven on earth.

Knuckles was guarding the master emerald as usual, but Julie-Su gave him company. And even Knuckles took his job really seriously, the both had fun together.

"Today is a really lovely day." Julie said and Knuckles just admit it was lovely. The sun was shining and it was warm, not to hot.  
"Sad we can't spend it different." "Well you can, Julie." "No, I'll stay." "Thats nice of you.".

She looked at him with a big smile and said "Come here!" as she gave him a kiss on his cheek. With that, she awaked Knuckles feelings for her and the two began to cuddle and kissing. In puplic, they wouldn't do this, but they were alone at a beautyful spot.

But than it happened. The master emerald and a hand full of chaos emeralds which were there as well, started to act strange. They were glowing black, making strange noises of cracking.

The two echidna's jumped. "W-What's happening?" Julie-Su asked surprised, while Knuckles jumped to the emerald. And as he touched the master emerald, it broke apart and every form of power seemed to disappear from the parts. Only a raw lump stayed behind, the chaos emeralds made the same.

As quick as everything could go, scientist as for Tails and Sonic were called to investigate this. So some of the most brilliant minds and one who had the best and most experience with the emeralds were looking after this.

But none of them found a clue and one after one were going.

* * *

Later the day, only Tails, Knuckles and Sonic were still there.

"Still nothing?" "Sorry Knuckles, nothing." Tails answered, putting the emerald in his hand away. "Come on, there is something wrong, I know it!" "I know. This whole thing is odd.". Knuckles growled annoyed.

Tails understanded his rage. Something bad was going on. So he turned to Sonic, who standed in front of the master emerald's remains.  
"Do you have maybe an idea Sonic?" Tails asked, getting no responce.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, but still nothing from the hedgehog. Once more Tails asked, standing beside his friend.  
Suddenly, the master emerald crumbled again and Sonic spilled out blood. In surprise Tails jumped back.

Sonic went down, starting to scream out of nowhere. Lying on the ground, he was twitching really hard, like he was strucked by lightning, still screaming and spilling blood.

Knuckles and Tails were shocked. But Knuckles got back to reality fast and yelled "Tails! Go and get help!" "Y-Yes!".  
With that, the fox flew as fast as he could to the closest hospital and Knuckles took care of Sonic, but soon picked the hedgehog up and brought him to the hospital.

And as the hedgehog was there, the doctors tried their best to help him.

* * *

A couple of days later, no medical proffesional found a clue what happened to Sonic, but at least he was stable enough so he could send to the timmy-tourtle-memorial-hospital in new metropolis.

He was visited by his family and friends, even some people he saved once and which wanted to thank him and gave their wishes that he would get well soon.

Many medical theories were tested for a month, but nothing seemed to help.

And at one morning, right as the first nurse of the morning shift checked on the blue hero, he was dead.  
He was found lying lifeless in his bed, bleeding from his closet eyes.

The news shocked like the whole planet. Eggman for himself, had a little party for this event, even he was a bit sad to not was responsible for Sonic's death.

And soon, the date of his funural was set.

* * *

Shortly before the funural, the grave keeper prepared everything for it. He was just cleaning the floor, as he looked over to the open coffin, gazing down on the hero who protected his home and everyone he loved. So he stopped the cleaning and sat down next to the coffin.

"T-Thank you..." he began, tears coming up in his eyes "Thank you so much for everything. You saved us from Robotnik's roboticizer and its curse, you protected my family, saved my friends and gave everything for peace from the great evil which were threatened us all. May your soul rest in peace, brave hedgehog."

He then got up to continue the cleaning, but noticed something. Blood was dripping from Sonic's eyes again.

"Well, well, what is that? Don't worry, I'll clean it away.". No sooner said than done, the grave keeper came with a hankie to clean the blood, as the hand of Sonic grabbed the arm of the crave keeper.

He tried to jump in surprise, than as he got the thought that Sonic maybe still be alive and the medics made a mistake, he began to smile.

But as he met the eyes of Sonic, the smile faded into a terrified look.

Later, as the guest for the funural arrived, all they found was an empty coffin and the corpse of the crave keeper next to it, his head inside the blood red coffin.

* * *

The days went on as usual, but as Tails was taking a walk in green hill to clear his mind, he met with the hedgehog after a way full of corpses and soon found himself in a burning area with only one way to go and that demon right behind him, chasing him until he got the fox.

As the next days went on, the sky turned to the awful blood red and more and more mobiens got killed by this demonic hedgehog, the former hero and now known plague , the "new god".

* * *

(Returning to the present)

"...And so this hell appeared." finished.

Tails then asked "But, if you were killed, then how do you-?" "...Are still here, walking and talking like we're still alive?" Amy .exe finished for Tails "Well its because this 'god' doesn't let us die. He has fun torturing us." Knuckles .exe said angry "But... he doesn't let everybody live, some he leaves dead(the lucky ones) and he also got new victims from other times. I heard that he got some guys from 200 years into the future here. He's sick!"

Silence then came over the group. It wasn't easy for any of them. You could litterly read from their sad faces that they lost and suffered much, but yet their hell wasn't going to fade away.

* * *

_More in the next chapter._

**_PLEACE _**_leave a comment._


	4. How the world works

"And what now?" Cream .exe finally broke the silence "We have to help this Tails somehow, so don't end up like us." "And how should we do that?". No one knew an answer. Everyone of them wanted to help Tails, but how?

"Maybe we can help you at least be not get found by him." Knuckles .exe said. Tails just looked at him confused, not knowing what he meant.

Knuckles .exe only wiped his cheeks from his rotten blood. He then went to Tails and ropped his bloody hand over Tails' head. "H-HEY? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he yelled. Knuckles .exe tried to calm him down saying "Hey stop struggeling. With this, he can't find you by your smell." "My smell?" "Oh my , this is a brilliant idea!" Tails .exe said.

He then went to Tails and robbed his blood on Tails' arm. The girls followed until Tails was nearly completly covered in their blood and good god did it smell bad.

"Now you don't smell so alive anymore." Knuckles .exe said. Tails was annoyed, but yet understand what they ment and it was all for his own good, so he said "Thanks" even he could vomit from the smell.  
"But what now?" he then asked "After all, I am not from here and I think home, everyone will search for me, I am shure."

* * *

Back on mobius, the day had started and as Tails' parents couldn't find their son, they called for the Chaotix and the Freedom Fighters.

The Chaotix should inspect if Tails was gotten kidnapped or so and the Freedom Fighters were willing to help in the search. The Freedom Fighters were asigned to search for Tails around new metropolis and the Chaotix searched in Tails' room for any clues.

But as bad as the Chaotix are at their job as detectives, most of them joked around after a while.

Vector was eating all the cookies left from the day before and Charmy also tried to get some of the cookies without any victory. Only Espio of the trio took everything seriously and looked around clearly. He then eventually found the disk in Tails' computer.

"Hey look guys!" he said. Vector grabbed the object fast and looked at it funny, while Charmy ate the last cookies Vector dropped to get the disk. "Oh wow, a disk! Your ninja skills still okay, Espio?". As Vector was finished, Espio got the disk out of his grib and said "They're fine, thank you. Also, I found nothing suspicious. Maybe Tails was doing something at his computer before he disappeared, so maybe this disk contains important information." "R-Right, right. *ähem* That was exactly what I was thinking. We should take this disk and investigate it at our place.".

Espio looked a bit annoyed, but said nothing.

Later in their office, all of the Chaotix, including Knuckles, Julie-Su, everybody. They all tried to find a clue on the disk.

* * *

Back on , the .exe agreed with Tails. His parents must be worring for him.  
Sadly, no one knew a way to get back.

Because of what happened to the emeralds, no one thought that they would be of any help. It looked bad for Tails returning home.

And once more, silence was over everyone's face. But out of all sudden, they all had the same, scared reaction.  
Quickly, Amy .exe yelled "Hide!".

Every of the good .exe done what he said, only Tails sat still there confused, but quickly followed the instructions and found a hidding spot.

Not so long after Tails hide, a glowing light appeared. Tails knew at once, what it was: Chaos control.

And he was right. From the light appeared Shadow, holding the remain of the red chaos emerald and a giant hole in the side of his belly.

He collapsed heavy breathing at a pile of rocks. He really didn't looked so good, like he was running for an enternity without any rest. And even now, when he thought he was save, it wasn't done yet.

The sound of thunder, the signal for his arrival, strucked the silence. Shadow looked around in fear, trying to get on his feet again, but the strengh for that was missing.

And so he had no way to escape in time.

Not long after the thunder, Sonic .exe came crashing through the ceiling into the ground. "Hello again, Shad." he giggled. Shadow tried to get away, throwing the emerald after Sonic .exe with no sucsess. The emerald was catched by Sonic .exe's dark energy.

The look he had was surprised and... scared?

But soon it changed to its natural state, the evil grin. He kicked Shadow around until he was lying on the ground, not moving. Shadow was done and had no power anymore.

Sonic .exe looked down at him with joy, but Shadow tried not to show any fear even when his death was close. And that was really close.  
Because then, Sonic .exe launched his hand inside Shadow's chest, ripping out his heart, squashing it and then eating it.

And as Shadow's spirit lift, Sonic .exe thought of how he wanted him to return as an .exe. Shadow was WAY to much fun to just let him stay dead.  
He looked around, finding some metal gears and as he looked at the emerald he was still holding with his dark force, he had the right idea.

He made Shadow to a machine or at least a cyborg. And as he used the emerald as the new heart for Shadow's undead body, more christal spreed over it. And as everything was done, blood dropped from the eyes as they opened in pitch black and red dots for the pupils.

"Hihihi..." Sonic .exe laughed "Welcome back Shadow .exe.". Shadow .exe growled at Sonic .exe before he disappeared in a bright light. "Fine by me." Sonic .exe smiled as he got ready to leave. But then he sniffed.

Tails got nervous in his hideout, thinking that Sonic .exe would find him. But luckily for him, all what the so called god smelled was the awful smell of the rotten blood.

He just looked around, then left. After a while, Tails crawled from his hidding spot.  
Happy that everything was okay, he called for the good .exe, but no one responded. As he looked for them, no one was found.

"They probably just got out of here." He thought. It was clear that they wouldn't want to be near Sonic .exe.

With nothing else in mind, he started to look after a way to get back home, walking through the ruins.

* * *

_More in the next chapter._


	5. Metallics and Ocean blue

His legs carried Tails through the ruins of station square, passing by more corpses or some .exe far away. His mind told him to better stay away from the .exe, because even he met some nice, who could tell if those were the same?

It proved out that the .exe he was seeing wasn't a nice one, because as a small mouse ran over the street, the .exe attacked it, swallowing it down his throat, before it ran into a building close by.

"It must be starving" he thought, remembering what happened to Knuckles .exe as he protected Tails earlier.

"The ground isn't save" rang then in his head "I need to get a higher position.".  
Looking around, he found something familiar: The Tornado, or at least the most of it.

Tails ran to the broken plain, looking what was to be repaired so he could use it. The next problem: Finding a workshop to repair it.

All what Tails tried was to get the plain on its landing gears so he could try to push it to the nearest workshop. But for a young fox like him it wasn't easy.

Many tries were failure, until someone gave him a hand. In surprise, as the Tornado actually turned on the landing gear suddenly, Tails jumped back.

"Calm down, its me!" Knuckles .exe said as he came from the other side of the plain, patting some dust from his gloves by clapping. "Knuckles .exe? Where-? Why, why were you and the others gone a couple of minutes ago?" "Sorry... Its become a habit of us to first hide and then get out when Sonic .exe is near.".

Tails could understand why and was just happy to see at least one face he could trust. So Knuckles .exe helped Tails to find a workshop and repair the Tornado.

Knuckles .exe stayed by the fox the whole time, while he was working on the plain. After a while, Tails asked "Why are you still here? Well I don't complain, but still..." "I'll protect you.".

Tails looked at him, happy. "Thanks." "You don't have to. This world is dark and cruel, but not like me, you still got a better place to go. I think we'll find a way to bring you back there." "Well the Tornado is ready now. Ready for a trip?" Tails asked, as he closet the door to the engine and waved to the passenger seat.

Knuckles .exe chuckled and took his place and shortly after, the flight started.

* * *

Some minutes passed and the flight was going pretty OK. Sonic .exe was far away and most of the Tornado holded together. But yet, some parts went lost over the flight, which was pretty bad, because right now, they were over the ocean, close to the rusty remains of the Death Egg.  
It was lying in the ocean with a big hole in it and nearly everything was rusty by now.

"Tails, I think we have to take a break!" Knuckles .exe screamed, as more parts flew off and the plain starts smoking. Tails turned his head to see the smoking hole and then looked to the Death Egg, finding a good landing spot.

"TAILS!" The echidna yelled again. Tails ignored now the landing spot and just flew to the Egg. The landing was going to be a crash landing, because of more parts flying off.

Knuckles .exe growled, rubbing his hurting head as he looked around for Tails. Luckily, Tails only got a few bruises. For that, Knuckles .exe sighed in relief.

The two got on their feet and looked around. The inside of the Death Egg was even more rusty and soaked in water. Everywhere were broken Badniks and with them, more dead animals.

"We should probably look for some new parts for the Tornado." Knuckles .exe said to snap Tails back to reality. He just could bring a cracked "Y-Yeah..." out, before they started to look. Most of the inside was like back in the beginning, but it seemed the count of dead bodies or broken robots became less and less as the went further into the Death Egg's core.

And then, screams echoed through the halls. "What?" "I'll look, stay here!". Knuckles .exe ran off to find the source. It took him far down many hallways before he found it.

In a small room, he found the source.

It was Ray the flying squirrel. Knuckles .exe first acted surprised to see Ray, but then quickly had to act.  
Ray was tied to a strange machine, which was cutting his chest. So Knuckles .exe went to save the poor little guy.

* * *

Tails was still waiting for Knuckles .exe, hoping everything would be alright. But the noise of a machine got his attention. He didn't expected any machine still running.

So he went the way the noise came, finding a big room. It was half sunken into the ocean blue, many wires were hanging from the ceiling, but was mostly in good shape. The source of the noise came from a generator, which stood at the end of the room, by some dirty glowing glass tube.

Tails inspected the machine further, as for the tube. There was something shining in the tube. From the raw looks, it seemed to be an emerald. "Maybe it wont hurt if I take it..." Tails thought, going to the machine and shutting it off.

* * *

Knuckles .exe did it, the machine was shut off and Ray get rest. To stop any bleeding, Ray hold his jacket over his wounds. "Don't worry." Knuckles .exe said to calm the young squirrel "We get you somewhere safe and take care of these wounds. Everything will be alright.". Ray just nodded, he had to get over the shock of being captured and tortured.

But Tails' scream surprised both of them. Knuckles .exe jumped up, yelling "Stay here, I'll be back! TAILS!" and running towards the room Tails went.

* * *

Tails was shocked. As he turned the generator off, a metallic hand had grabbed him. It had came from the tube.  
Metal Sonic broke more of the glass tube, looking at the poor fox in his claws.

This Metal Sonic was as broken and rusty as the rest of the Death Egg, most of the armor at his chest and belly area was gone, leaving something looking like rips, his head had a giant hole and every function and action he did was visible in small electric sparks and only one eye still worked, the other was covered in see weed.  
And the dark blue emerald was stuck in the rips.

At first, Metal .exe just looked right into Tails' eyes, as he broke free from his prison. But soon, he flew off to the water and hold Tails head inside. He wanted Tails to drown.  
Tails in panic tried to get up, while Metal .exe let out some wierd sound, which sounded like a broken record. But Knuckles .exe arrived just in time to beat Metal .exe from Tails.

"Come now, get out." Knuckles .exe said, while pushing the hard breathing Tails towards the exit. But Metal .exe recovered and started to beat up Knuckles .exe. The fight started, but thanks to Metal .exe rusty state, Knuckles .exe had the upper hand.

The echidna punched Metal .exe a lot of times, threw him against the walls and get the robot tangled in the cables. Metal .exe only got to make some scratches on Knuckles .exe, but was beaten pretty fast.

The last hit gone to Metal .exe's chest, throwing him against a wall once more and all of the most important technology in his brain flew out, only to get pounded by Knuckles .exe's foot. It was done.

As the fighting noises stopped, Tails and Ray went inside, finding the totally broken robot and the exhausted echidna. The both went to Knuckles .exe.

"Knuckles .exe! Everything alright?" Tails asked. Knuckles .exe gave him a smile "Yeah now...". The three looked down at Metal .exe, seeing the emerald. Tails then went to his knees to pick up the stone. "Hey, what are you doing?" Knuckles .exe asked him, holding Tails back.

"I want to take the emerald." "You shouldn't! Those things are dangerous!". Tails looked a little nervous, but yet went to pick the stone up. Nothing bad happened. "Why should they be dangerous? Maybe in the wrong hands, but...". He got interrupted by Knuckles .exe taking the emerald from Tails' hands. The stone immediately burned the echidnas flesh.

Knuckles .exe let out a scream, letting the emerald fall. Tails took it right away, confused. It seemed that .exe couldn't touch the stones as long they aren't part of their body like for Metal .exe.

Then Ray started to went to his knees, weak from what happened to him. Knuckles .exe grabbed him "Come now. We have to find a safer place to take care of him." "And where?". Knuckles .exe thought while they ran to the Tornado and get it ready to fly off. "Freedom HQ! I was there many times, but never saw someone there. Lets bring him there!". With that, the flight to Freedom HQ was set.

* * *

_To be continued!_

_Please comment etc. ;)  
_


	6. Invisible enemies in purple coat

After the Tornado was repaired once more, the group took of to the great forest.  
Even though it was more a jungle now then a forest. And Freedom HQ was like the Death Egg, sunken deep inside the jungle and more of a ruin.

The landing was acceptable and Tails went inside, followed by Knuckles .exe who brought the unconscious squirrel with him. Lucky most of the rooms were still in tact and Tails quickly found medical supplies.  
"Okay, Knuckles! Place him there. I'll take care of his wounds.".

After some minutes, Ray fast fast asleep, all of his wounds bounded. So Tails and Knuckles .exe let the boy rest, while they were sitting in the living room. But Knuckles .exe couldn't stop the feeling of being watched. He looked pretty much over his shoulder, thinking he saw a shadow in the crown of the trees.

"What's wrong, Knucks?" Tails as he noticed Knuckles .exe weird behavior. The echidna shushed the fox, saying "There is something.". Both looked outside, as it started to rain. It was awfully quiet, before something happened.  
Something went through the bushes, making both of them get up, Knuckles .exe ready to face what ever came and Tails to hide. But yet, there was nothing.

Again, the bushes moved, like something would step out of them and a trail of blood appeared out of thin air, towards Freedom HQ. Knuckles .exe went close to the door, while Tails got hiding behind the couch.  
The trail came closer, as the door went open and a low breathing was heard. Quickly, Knuckles .exe jumped into action and hit a punch on something, making it visible.

Espio went down to the ground, spilling more blood beside the scars he already had. But he was normal.  
Quick, Tails got to him. "Oh my god! What happened?" he asked, as he helped Espio inside. He could barely speek, only pointed towards the forest, taking a throwing star, the weapons he used, from on of the cuts. Knuckles .exe took it, seeing that it was rusty, bloody and partly broken.  
He knew who had them, but its obviously no mystery at all.

"Stay inside!" He said, as he got out, ready to fight. He closed the door shut and waited. Waited one small thing to know where the chameleon was. And right as another throwing star flew through the rain, he had at least one point to look for it.

So he ran after it, sometimes even saw his shadow in the trees as he ran deeper into the jungle. But after a while, he lost Espio .exe. Why does it to be him, the echidna thought angry. An enemy hard to see, fast for that matter too. This could take some time.

"COME OUT YOU COWARD!" Knuckles .exe screamed. And gently, he did it. Espio .exe came from behind quietly, ready to stab Knuckles .exe with a dagger. But only too lucky, Knuckles .exe noticed him in the right moment and attacked first.

Espio .exe had slightly burned flesh, which was visible as many black dots all over his body, but mostly he had cuts, all of them sewn together. The biggest was over his belly. Knuckles .exe knew, that that wound came from Espio himself. The torture he had gone through in his last minutes of life, were the reason he killed himself like the old samurai used to do it.

"Please..." Said Knuckles .exe then "Stop what you're doing! I am your friend, not an enemy, Espio.". He wanted so badly, that some of his friends would at least act like they used to. And after what Knuckles .exe went through, you would understand. But Sonic .exe wanted his fun and the curse was strong, yet our knucklehead didn't wanted to lost hope.

Espio .exe attacked, punches were made, blocked or avoided. Knuckles .exe was the first again, to punch his foe against a big tree. As the chameleon got up, he vanished. "Damn, you and your hiding." Knuckles .exe mumbled as he started to run. On that way, he could look if Espio .exe had took off somewhere and maybe to avoid getting hit so quick. But he saw nothing and the sound of thunder didn't made it easier to find the ninja.

After some time 'chasing', Knuckles .exe went so mad, that his good self faded and the .exe awakened. He punched over trees in his rage. As he got a pause to breath deeply, he saw something. Something was stuck in Liana.  
He smiled in a dark way only the 'god' did, as he went towards the thing.

It became scared, as it tried to run, only to find itself strangle itself. Finally, Espio .exe got visible again, looking at the echidna scared. He knew what would happen.

Knuckles .exe for his part, looked from where the Liana came from. Over the pretty big branch they went around, they came from a second tree. Smiling again, Knuckles .exe went to push over that tree as lead to the Liana following it, taking Espio .exe up. Now he hang there, struggling to free himself. He puked and gave a lot of noises, sounding like cries, before he couldn't breath anymore and his body hang there silently.

Knuckles .exe just grinned on what he had done, happy. He then remembered the others in Freedom HQ. He smirked "F-F-Fresh meat!" "No, Mr Knuckles!".

Cream .exe hugged the echidna, trying to get him from his evil state back to the normal. "Please don't do it! Not after all what happened!". The echidna tried to push her from him, but for her little body, she was kind of strong. And like a little siren, her sweet voice brought him back to be good by saying "Think about her!".

Knuckles .exe went to his knees, as his brain reminded him about 'her'. He cried and Cream .exe gave him comfort. "Everything is alright, Mr Knuckles.", she said, patting him on the had gently. She then took his hand and said "Come now, let us help Tails and the others." "*sniff* O-Okay..." He said, as he was back to normal and followed her.

* * *

After some time of rest, Espio woke up and Tails explained what happened.  
"Is Ray alright?" "Yes, he is." "That's good..."

Around that moment, Cream .exe entered. Espio was to throw something at her, but Tails had to hold him back, explaining about her. He then noticed the object Espio was holding.

"Espio... Where did you get that?" "Hm? I found it when I found myself here.". Espio gave it to Tails. It was the purple emerald. Tails got happy and had to explain about the emeralds as after that, Cream .exe came with an unpleasant question "Um... Mr Espio... How do you or Ray even got here?"

"Well..." Espio said, explaining what happened.  
Tails was shocked after he was finished. "What? You all watched what was on that disk?" "Yes. It was the only clue we had why you disappeared." "Oh, this is bad. REALLY BAD!".  
Tails got up and ran into the living room to tell Knuckles .exe about what Espio had just told him.

"We have to find them! Before HE does!" Knuckles .exe said. Tails agreed "Yes. We have to find them." "No Tails, you'll stay here. Its safer." "But what about the emeralds?"  
As he said that, Tails got an idea. "The Emeralds! We can use them to find other emeralds."  
"And how will that help us finding all of the Chaotix?" "So far, each of our friends was close to .exe which had an emerald. Maybe when we find the emeralds, we can find them close by too."

Tails went to repair the computer in Freedom HQ's lab, making it run and locate the emeralds. And it worked. 5 places were marked. One in MeteorTech, one in an abandoned Eggman base, one on Angel Island, one in a G.U.N. base and the last on a big piece of earth, flying in the air and way bigger than Angel Island.  
Tails even saw that piece of earth as he and Knuckles .exe flew with the Tornado over the ocean.

Knuckles .exe wanted to go to MeteorTech first. He didn't say why, maybe he was just listening to his inner self saying they should go there. But Tails felt safer that way to.

* * *

After some rest, Knuckles .exe went to MeteorTech, but got caught up by Tails and the Tornado.

"What are you doing? Turn around, now!" The echidna yelled, but Tails yelled back "You need someone to take the emeralds and also, I think the others wouldn't go with someone like you."

Knuckles .exe had to agree and jumped in the Tornado as he got the chance. And so both took off.


	7. In the once light blue sky

The flight to MeteorTech was going without any problems.

It was all broken down and shattered glass everywhere. The wind was dead in this place and beside the glass, sand covered most of the place.

"So, here it is?" Knuckles .exe asked in disbelieve. Tails just said "Yep." as the two of them went for the search. None of the Chaotix so far, as for the emerald. Only silence remain in this former place of high technology.

The two partners tried to keep their visit short. Who knows what would wait for them here? Even though Knuckles .exe was strong, the next enemy could be stronger. But the greatest fear was the _he _would come down from that awful sky. So each thunder noise made them jump into the closest hiding spot.  
But luckily, _he _didn't left the world of clouds.

After a while Knuckles .exe was lost in thoughts. He remembered the places of the emeralds, thinking what would happen. Most the giant floating piece of Mobius .exe and Angel Island gave him the most sorrows.  
What could be so powerful, that it lifted a whole piece of a planet in mid air? It wasn't Sonic .exe for sure, even he could. But even that demon didn't visited that awful place.  
And Angel Island...

As Knuckles .exe wiped a tear from his face, Tails yelled for him. Quickly the echidna caught up to the fox, he saw the light blue emerald stuck in a wall. "Why is it stuck _there_?" He asked, wondering what the reason could be, as he saw something.  
"Well, at least we found one thing." Tails said as he grabbed the object and pulled.

"Stop!" Knuckles .exe yelled, as he grabbed the fox, pushing him to a hiding spot. Tails only saw that the emerald shortly lighten up, before wind started to blow like a storm and something behind the wall start to move.  
small light started to shine, most only send electric sparks, as a familiar form shaped from the wall as it got loose from it with an ugly noise, a noise of flesh pulling from rusty nails.

An Extreme Gear got off the wall, as a shape of a bird appeared close behind it. It was Jet, well you can guess it, Jet .exe now. He appeared from the wall like a mummy from its sarcophagus. He was mostly hurt on the back, his body was kept in something similar to an iron maiden and his feet were cut off. His legs were one with his board and in his board was the emerald.

And with his flight towards the sky, happy about his freedom, the storm raised and made it impossible to stand in one place. And then there was the sand, it grind everything. So Knuckles .exe protected Tails as good as he could. But as nice as fate is, two voices made the two partners and the hawk jump.

Charmy and Shaffron were heard, weak, but they were there. But because of them, the storm vanished and wind now followed the hawk. And it was fast, fast on its way towards them. Knuckles .exe had only a short moment to react, but he made it on Jet .exe's board and was in a close fight.

Tails for his part used the moment to run towards Charmy and Shaffron. "TAILS!" The young bees cried. They were unharmed, thank god. Tails was to explain, but they heared Knuckles .exe scream.

Jet .exe had the upper hand. He threw the echidna through the air to attack nearly as fast as Sonic .exe and punched the red one from here to there and the same backwards. Knuckles .exe had no way attaking back, because of the lack of ground to stand on, to have a hold. And the punches continued, as he flew over the clouds and then falling towards the ground. The hit made him break many bones and he was knocked unconscious.

"Oh no..." Tails whispered, as for Charmy and Shaffron gasping in panic. But as the hawk growled loudly, they saw him approach. The look he had, was terrifying. The bees hide behind the fox and all of them closet their eyes.

But shortly, before Jet .exe touched any of them, something hold it back. With a loud noise the looked up.  
A shield protected them and Jet .exe had smashed against it with full speed. He had stopped, his legs went over the shield followed by his head, as he spilled blood over the three children.  
He crashed into the ground and was shortly out.

The children breathed heavy, as Tails quickly looked in his hands. Without Knuckles .exe knowledge, the fox boy had brought one of the two emeralds they already had with him, to their luck. That effect saved them from the hawks grab.

And thanks to the dark curse, Knuckles .exe was up again. As he saw the hawk on the ground, he took his chance. Running past the others, he jumped on the back site of the board, behind the hawk who just raised into the air again. He may had the stronger hand before, but hitting something behind his back was harder.

As Tails explained the situation to the bees, Knuckles .exe tried his best to lead the Extreme Gear to the ground, while Jet .exe tried to get up. But as soon as the rushed close enough over the ground, the hawk had lost.  
Knuckles .exe pushed Jet .exe's head towards the ground as they flew, grinding it over all the broken tech, glass and everything on the ground until most of the head was gone and the body stopped struggling.

He had won and flew the rest of the board to Tails and the others. Charmy and Shaffron weren't sure about him, he may looked like their friend as he was thrown through the sky, but now, he was just scary for them. But what should they do? There was no one else to trust, beside Tails saying they would be save with the echidna. So Knuckles .exe guided them to the Tornado, happy the fight was over, while Tails collected the emerald.

* * *

The flight home was... quiet. The bee children only wanted to see more familiar faces of their closest friends and partners. But the first look on Freedom HQ shocked them.

Before Tails and Knuckles .exe had left, Knuckles .exe had taken care that the big group of the Chaotix would be unnoticed by any noses of the .exe, he had used his own, Cream .exe's and Espio .exe's blood and some of their guts to cover the smell.

It really wasn't lovely, but as Ray ran outside, Charmy and Shaffron calmed down a bit, even more as Espio greeted them from his bed.

Two more friends rescued and one emerald more.  
The next is going to be in the Eggman base.


	8. Green light in the flower fields

After a short rest, the next journey began.  
The Eggman base.

Tails thought of how that place would look and got the scariest ideas. But what they found, was more than surprising.

Even though big wooden crosses stuck in the ground everywhere, like giant grave stones and the noises of the still working machines, everything was overgrown by plants, grass and mostly flowers. It was kinda... beautiful.  
So calm and nearly perfectly save. But only nearly.

On the crosses were .exe. Most stayed still, others reacted to the two visitors by panting like dogs and giving those starving or blood thirsty look in their eyes.

The two walked over the fields, the place as nearly impossible to make out to be a former Eggman base, but after a while, they found the two things they're looking for. But it wasn't a pleasent sight.  
Mighty was there, he was crying as he looked to the .exe in front of him. He begged "Tilly! Please, stop! I am your brother, not your enemy!", but Matilda .exe didn't listened. She continued to punch Mighty in the face, who couldn't fight back.

She was wrapped in bandages, only her eyes were free as for her mechanic arms. But those arms were broken by flowers, which were everywhere like the bandages. Sweet pink flowers, which had the armadillo boys blood all over them.  
The green emerald was stuck in the back of her neck and was hard to see.

Knuckles .exe was about to help the poor Mighty, as that aweful sound of thunder was heard. The clouds lighten up in blue and all what Knuckles .exe did, was grabbing Tails and hide.  
Just in time, as he appeared.

As Sonic .exe appeared, all flowers close to him died and every green turned grey and dark red. He smiled for the fresh meat, but as he saw Mighty he got confused. "Didn't I killed him already?" he thought, but gently ignored it. No way he would leave the fun to someone else. As Mighty saw Sonic .exe he tried to hit him. But the devil blocked the attack with ease.

He laughed, as he returned the punch and lots more. He teared the strong house into pieces, before fixing him with his dark curse. Once again, the aweful laugh echoed through the base and over the fields, before the hedgehog disappeared.  
"No..." Tails whispered out in shock, as they saw how Mighty .exe got up, screaming in pain up to the sky.

None of the two moved, but suddenly something grabbed them and threw them towards the .exe. Shocked, both looked up to the armadillos. Mighty .exe grunted at them, as the second version, more rotten version of him who came up from behind. He had thrown them.

Knuckles .exe was cursing as he got to his feet, grabbed Tails and fleed. "Three strong houses, three freaking strong armadillos at once. Of course this had to happen!" he thought to himself, as he climbed a wall to bring Tails to safety. And just as that was done, the three attacked, nearly destroying the building. Luckily both of our heroes reacted fast enough, Tails by starting to fly and Knuckles .exe by starting to glide.

He then broke his flight to jump on the first Mighty's face. It didn't helped much, the echidna was thrown away pretty fast. But only the Mighty .exe's attacked. Matilda .exe didn't cared a bit, what would happen to Knuckles .exe, she went for Tails. That was everything she wanted.

As Knuckles .exe saw Tails fleeing and Matilda .exe close on the fox's heels, he wanted to help him. But then, there was the two on his own heels. He had his hands full with them, those damn twins.

As the echidna tried to knock the twin devils away from him, Tails fled through the higher parts of the base. But Matilda .exe was fast and close behind. She broke every building or machine in her way.  
It was horrible. Tails flew as fast as he could and even tried his best as his power left him. But he eventually collapsed to his luck just before a high abyss.

Under them, were Knuckles .exe and the Mighty .exes. Behind them a large squeezer, still working and of course highly dangerous. The armadillos had fought him over here, probably to get rid of him with that thing. But Knuckles .exe focused on the more rotten one. As that one got close, he grabbed him and threw him into the squeezer, blood splattering everywhere. But what to do with the second one?

Back to Tails, he was in high danger and to exhausted from the flight. As he saw Matilda .exe standing right in front of him, noticing that his buddy was to far away to help him, he got ready to die as well.  
He imaged how it would end, by getting smashed by those arms? Or maybe torn apart? No matter what, it was over, he thought, sobbing.

But to a weird, kinda familiar "Piko" sound he looked up. The emerald from the back of the neck was now stuck in Matilda .exe's throat, she was chocking on it, before another "Piko" hit it out of it into Tails' lab. He hold on to it tight, as another "Piko" hit the armadillo girl to the side.

"Hey Amy." He said smiling, looking up to the also smiling Amy .exe. But as Matilda .exe went to her legs again, she turned around. Yet this time, Amy .exe get thrown to the side, but to the emeralds(Tails honestly forgot he had one with him the whole time), Matilda .exe hit the shield of chaos energy. She screamed in pain, as bandages got loose, showing her completely sliced body which was nearly only still together thanks to the plants. But also, her arms broke and one even felled out.

Amy .exe used this moment for the last hit on her, before Matilda .exe got any chance to do anything. The hit threw her over the building and straight down, on one of the many crosses, impaling her. Amy .exe and Tails then went to Knuckles .exe.

He stood close to an abyss in the base, where the Egg fleet ships were once stored, and the echidna cried. As Tails asked why, he just pointed down the abyss. He had thrown the fresh Mighty .exe over the railing down, killing him as he hit the floor.  
"We can't leave him here..." Tails just said, flying down to take the body with him. The .exe followed and helped him, but made sure that the green emerald was somewhere near the body. That way, the body couldn't turn to an .exe again.

* * *

Back at Freedom HQ, the news shocked everybody. Charmy and Shaffron cried, Espio stayed as strong as he could and Ray hit it the hardest.

He stopped talking and didn't went away from Mighty's side. He just couldn't believe his best friend, his brother, was gone.

At times like this, Tails wondered how such a hell could ever be possible... But then again, the next emeralds wait. Next was Angel Island.

* * *

Somewhere else, far, far away, the demon Sonic .exe arrived from a flight around the planet.

He was angry, blazing mad. He had visited MeteorTech and the Death Egg after what happened in the Eggman base. He couldn't believe someone took the emeralds, killing his toys.

"Argh!" He yelled, as he arrived in a hospital building, flapping down on a couch "What in hell's name would do that? Its impossible!". He grumbled more and feared, that something could actually become dangerous to him.  
"Nah... impossible. I AM GOD! THE WORLD HAS TO BOW IN FRONT OF ME!"

A metallic sound disturbed him in his rage. Sally .exe had tried to sneak away, but to the lack of eyes, she had thrown a metal table over. She was completely frozen in place, as silence fell over the area.  
But then he laughed, oh how awfully he laughed. It was freezing blood, so dark and scary was it.

He flew to her saying "Nothing will get to me, right Sally dear? Nothing can ever stop a god!". He grabbed her by her hand, pulling her to her feet and turning her to face him.  
He smirked, before pressing his lips on hers. A kiss, which would be cute, if they would be the ones they used to be, made strange noises of sucking. And as Sonic .exe pulled back, he was indeed, sucking organs out of Sally .exe's body.

Coldy, he let her fall to the ground as he turned to face the window saying "Who ever thinks he can fool me, will feel my anger in total agony."


	9. The yellow shine of Angel Island

Even though it was hard, the trip to the burning island in the sky began shortly after they arrived back in Freedom HQ. They couldn't risk to lose another friend.  
But the sad mood was still in the air as they flew towards Angel Island.

Tails tried his best to be strong, but Knuckles .exe got way sadder when they got closer to his old home. The fox noticed and asked "What's wrong?"

Knuckles .exe said he didn't wanted to bother Tails and it would be better to focus on the mission, but Tails was insisted on knowing what was wrong with him. So he told him.

* * *

(The past)

After Sonic .exe's take over, the weak Mobiens were killed in the earliest days fast. Only stronger or clever ones made it through the first wave of darkness and killings.

And so was she, Julie-Su.

She had made it through that time and did her best to stay alive, which was hard to shoot many familiar faces only to reach that goal. Knuckles .exe for his part tried to protect her, even he had to feel the pain, that she didn't believed him when he told her, he was still the same.

Over and over again, the two saw each other and always the same result. Both their hearts shattered.  
In the end, the last time they saw each other, was back on Angel Island.

Julie-Su wanted to get to the remains of the Master Emerald, thinking it could protect her. Yet again, she met with her boyfriend on the way.

"Stay back!" she screamed at him, holding her gun ready to shoot him. He tried to calm her down, but she screamed over and over again "Stay back you pest!".

No matter what he did, she backed away from him scared to the bone. And on that day, the bad luck was on their side. Sonic .exe slammed the echidna male to the side and straight to the female. No shot took an effect on the hedgehog and he sliced her face and chest open.

"NO!" screamed Knuckles .exe as he saw her, falling to the ocean. He jumped up and after her.  
As he hit the water surface, it knocked him out shortly, but as he got his consciousness back, he looked for her and afterwards brought her back to land.

Even though her heart stopped, he tried his best to bring her back to life. Sonic .exe watched his tries in amusement. As Knuckles .exe knew he was there, he grabbed him and yelled "BRING HER BACK! I don't care what you do to me for it, but please bring her back!"

But the hedgehog laughed, as he punched the echidna to the side. He grabbed Julie-Su, holding her like a bride in his arms, turned over to him and smirked, before vanishing.

* * *

(Present)

Tails looked at Knuckles .exe sad, as they landed and start to walk towards the heart of the island. Everything was on fire and instead of rivers or any source of water, was replaced by lava. Damn was it hot here.

Neither of the two of them said anything. They only looked for the next friend or emerald. And then they heard Vector screaming "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!". It was even visible by the flames he spit into the air.  
So all the two heroes had to do is follow the voice.

They found Vector strapped to a wall, red lines around him as it looked like a ritual was about to enforce. Vector was even wearing a necklace out of flowers while red symbols were all over his body. But beside the crocodile, there was a shadowy figure on the top of the cliff and a pool of more lava.

As Knuckles .exe and Tails arrived, Vector was yelling at the guy on the cliff mean words and all what a guy in his position would say. But he then got interrupted by a loud noise of crumbling.

From the pool appeared a figure. It was tall and all covered in the flames and melted stone, until bones appeared from the fire. It was hard to tell, who the hell the mobien was, but when it showed its face, it was clearly Blaze the Cat.

Her face still had a little rest of skin and fur, But only around her eyes and forehead, the rest was bones and lava. And instead of the small red stone, the yellow chaos emerald was stuck in the forehead.

She looked at Vector, heating up Vectors skin. He yelped at it. She for her part, seemed to laugh, as she pulled back and towers of lava got ready to burn the reptile. But Knuckles .exe quickly reacted and throwed a rock at her head. Blaze .exe turned in fury at him. He didn't even flinched, even as she moved towards him.

"What are you doing?" Tails yelled at Knuckles .exe. He replied "Keeping that cat off your friend, how does it look like?". As he said that, Blaze .exe had reached the end of the lava pool, bursting through the ground. That was Knuckles .exe's sign to start running and so he did, telling Tails he should look that he gets Vector out of that position. That's what Tails did.

Vector was happy for the helping hand. But the shadowy guy was back and he pulled Tails away from helping Vector.

Knuckles .exe didn't had it easier. It was impossible to find a good attacking point on Blaze .exe. After all, the whole Island was on fire and lava was everywhere and that gave the cat a lot of power. Because more lava towers shoot from the ground and the echidna had multiple times were he got hit by them or was surrounded by it and her, escaping it luckily.

But in the end, he stood at the edge of the island and with no way of escaping, except leaving Tails behind and jump into the deep. But we know he wouldn't do it, for nothing in the world, he would do it.

Back to Tails now. He had to struggle, the guy was pretty strong. But there was one thing that lacked him, agility. Tails was to quick for the guy. So instead of getting the fox, the guy went for letting him fall into the pool. He seemed to get something from doing so. But he failed.

As he got Tails far enough to the pool and got him to trip, Tails started to fly, which the guy didn't seem to expected. So instead of Tails, the guy dropped to his doom. Tails as for Vector looked down at the pit, as it turned to solid stone. "Wow..." both said, before Vector turned to Tails and asked "Could you maybe help me now? I have to pee!".

From Knuckles .exe's side, he was shortly before being burned to a second death (from the many times he already died thanks to Sonic .exe), but it was when the guy disappeared in the lava pit, all lava on the whole island froze back to stone and so did Blaze .exe.

She was a statue, a bony, horrifying statue. Who knows if she would ever wake up again, as her eyes lost any form of life, bleeding again to the stone.

Knuckles .exe breathed in relief, collapsing to his knees. After all what was before, he was broken inside more then ever. Mostly after killing Mighty .exe, knowing the loss of a friend once again. He hated this place.  
Soon enough, Tails and Vector meet up with the echidna. Vector went all Kung Fu like as he saw Knuckles .exe, but after some explanation he was less upset.

Another friend was saved and Tails got the emerald from Blaze .exe's forehead and they returned to Freedom HQ.  
Next goal: G.U.N.


End file.
